Under the Blood Moon

Chapter 4

        "How did you get here? How did you know we were here?” Travis’s father is here? I thought that he was working or something? What is going on? “Son there is not much time for me to tell you what is going on. If you mother knows that I am here she will alert Khan. You need to protect the young Queen. She is the most important thing right now.” I stand up in the darkness and step into the light. Both Travis and his father whip their heads towards me. I look at Travis and ask “Travis what is going on?” Travis’s father bows to me and says “I’m sorry your excellence I did not know you were here.” I walk to him and touch his shoulder “You don’t have to bow I am not Queen yet.” He lets out a small chuckle and rises. “What is going on? I need to know.” He puts his hand on my shoulder and says “I am a part of the Royal Council. My title is secret. I run information between the Royals. Before Denise and Travis came here I was given a message by Queen Renee. She informed me of what was going to happen and what I needed to do.

         I took Denise out on what I told her was a hunt. I knew that if I told her I had a message she would want to know what it was. Renee informed me of Denise’s plan and that she needed to be stopped.” He takes his hand off and looks to his son. “Travis there is Imperial Scouts coming to watch your every move, for some reason King Khan has doesn’t fully trust you mother. They are going to take the information they collect back to Khan and if he they see anything that even remotely shows that your aware of his plan he will come earlier than planned. If you can catch the scouts and prevent them from getting back to Khan it will delay his coming early.” Travis nods his head and accepts his new task. I can’t help but feel like I have changed Travis life forever and now he can possibly die trying to protect me. This world is so strange to me.

         I look and Travis’s father and say “For argument sake, what happens after I awaken?” He runs his hand through his hair, just as Travis does, and says “When you are awakened then you will be Queen. Since you will be more powerful than Khan you will rule over the race. Khan is not going to let that happen so he will challenge you for the thrown. If you win, and you become Queen, our morphing will no longer will be determined by the full moon. We will once again have control over ourselves and the race will again become peaceful.” My head is starting to spin, all this information is too much for me right now, but I have to know more. I want to know everything I can before I awaken.

         “Why didn’t Renee rule when she was Queen? Why did she let Khan take over? What do you mean I need to challenge him?” Travis father raises his arm and motions to the direction of the shore and we all begin to walk towards it. He responds, “Renee is the most powerful Queen we had ever had, but Khan was more powerful than she. So therefore he was granted control. Renee has control of choosing the Mystics for the Royal Court but Khan has the last word on everything else that has to do with our Realm. He has a lust for power and it has taken over him and with the death of his only child he has gone mad. As you know when a male has total control over our race, all werewolves become unstable. Their anger is hard to control and they can only morph when the full moon is out. That is when the danger of being discovered is at its highest. That’s why the only stories of werewolves are horror stories. Whole villages and towns were being destroyed because the wolf could not control their morphing or what they did after they changed. We need to have a strong Queen to over throw Khan and bring peace to us all. When you challenge Khan you both will be put to a test that will prove who is more worthy to rule.” This is all so confusing to me. It’s hard to believe that in 500 years of Renee being Queen there was never one woman that could do this. Why am I so important? I really don’t understand.

         I look to Travis’ father “What is your name so I don’t have to refer to you as Travis’s dad?” He chuckles and says “My name is Charles.” The forest is quiet as we crunch dry leaves under our feet walking to the shore. There is a silence that seems to last forever. I don’t know how to react to all of this. Should I be excited that I finally know that I mean something to someone, or should I continue to hold my pain and resentment for being lied to for so many years? I decide to ask the question that has been burning in my brain. “Ok Charles, I really don’t understand why I am the one that has to do all this. There was not one person in 500 years that could have over thrown Khan? After all this, what happens to Travis since we are bonded?” Travis grabs my arm and we stop walking. Charles looks back at us and his face turns ghost white. He takes a few strong steps and he is face to face with Travis. “Travis why didn’t you tell me that you bonded with the future Queen. Don’t you think that would be something that I need to know?” Travis drops his head “Dad I didn’t expect this to happen and I had no idea what happened to you after we left Oregon, how could I have told you anything?” He raises his head back to Charles “But it did, and I love her. I am going to do everything I can to protect her.” Charles looks at me and gives me half a smile. He puts his hand on Travis’s shoulder “Son, I don’t think you understand what is going to happen now.” Travis looks back at Charles and seems to be very confused. “I don’t understand, what do you mean?”